System and method for mitigating network congestion using fast congestion detection in a wireless radio access network (RAN)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9544812-B2
Application number	US-201514610565-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2015
Priority date	Jan 30, 2015
Publication date	Jan 10, 2017
Grant date	Jan 10, 2017

Abstract

Fast congestion detection is implemented in a wireless radio access network (RAN) to mitigate congestion by classifying bearers into bearer types using bearer metrics and monitoring bearers for type specific anomalies to obtain anomaly data. Congestion is detected based on the anomaly data to obtain congestion information that is exported to a network node to mitigate network congestion. Bearer metrics include radio link protocol (RLC) buffer size information, physical resource block (PRB) utilization information, and transmission burst interval information. The transmission burst interval information includes information on time intervals between successive time periods when a RLC buffer is empty. The bearers are classified into Type I and Type II bearers. Type I bearers are bearers displaying bursty data transfer behavior, and Type II bearers are bearers displaying a continuous stream of data transfer behavior.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of mitigating cell congestion, comprising:
obtaining, by one or more processors of at least one network node, bearer metrics for one or more bearers;
classifying, by the one or more processors, the one or more bearers into bearer types using the bearer metrics in order to obtain bearer type information;
monitoring, by the one or more processors, the one or more bearers for type-specific anomalies based on the bearer type information to obtain anomaly data;
detecting, by one or more processors, congestion based on the anomaly data to obtain congestion information; and
exporting, by the one or more processors, the congestion information to a node processor of a network node to mitigate network congestion.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the exporting includes exporting the congestion information to at least one of a node processor running an application function, a node processor of an e-Node B, a node processor of a user equipment, and a node processor of a management entity node that mitigates network congestion.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining of the bearer metrics includes obtaining radio link protocol (RLC) buffer size information and physical resource block (PRB) utilization information.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the obtaining of the bearer metrics further includes obtaining transmission burst interval information, the transmission burst interval information including information on time intervals between successive time periods when a RLC buffer is empty.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein,
the classifying the one or more bearers into bearer types includes classifying the bearers into one of a Type I bearer and a Type H bearer,
the Type I bearers display bursty data transfer behavior, and
the Type II bearers display continuous stream data transfer behavior.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the monitoring includes,
comparing a time period between consecutive occurrences of an empty RLC buffer against a second threshold value if a particular bearer is the Type I bearer.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the monitoring includes,
comparing an average RLC buffer size of the particular bearer against a first threshold value, if a particular bearer is the Type II bearer.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the monitoring includes,
comparing an average PRB utilization to a third threshold value, if the particular bearer is one of the Type I bearer and the Type II bearer.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the anomaly data includes at least one of a channel condition, an average number of assigned physical resource blocks (PRBs), a severity of an anomaly expressed as a value, a value of a configured parameter, and a total number of bearers served by a cell.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein,
the detecting of congestion includes detecting if a weighted sum of a discrimination function of each bearer is positive,
the discrimination function being a function of an average physical resource block (PRB) allocation, a bearers location within a cell, and a channel condition.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein,
the detecting detects congestion if a fraction of bearers with a detected anomaly exceeds a threshold.

12. A network node, comprising:
one or more processors configured to,
obtain bearer metrics for one or more bearers,
classify the one or more bearers into bearer types using the bearer metrics in order to obtain bearer type information,
monitor the one or more bearers for type-specific anomalies based on the bearer type information to obtain anomaly data,
detect congestion based on the anomaly data to obtain congestion information; and
export the congestion information to a network node to mitigate network congestion.

13. The network node of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors is further configured to export the congestion information by exporting the congestion information to at least one of a node processor running an application function, a node processor of an e-Node B, a node processor of a user equipment, and a node processor of a management entity node that mitigates network congestion.

14. The network node of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors is further configured to obtain the bearer metrics by obtaining radio link protocol (RLC) buffer size information and physical resource block (PRB) utilization information.

15. The network node of claim 14 , wherein the one or more processors is further configured to obtain the bearer metrics by obtaining transmission burst interval information, the transmission burst interval information including information on time intervals between successive time periods when a RLC buffer is empty.

16. The network node of claim 12 , wherein,
the one or more processors is further configured to classify the one or more bearers into bearer types by classifying the bearers into one of a Type I bearer and a Type II bearer,
the Type I bearers display bursty data transfer behavior, and
the Type II bearers display continuous stream data transfer behavior.

17. The network node of claim 16 , wherein the one or more processors is further configured to monitor the one or more bearers for type-specific anomalies by,
comparing a time period between consecutive occurrences of an empty RLC buffer against a second threshold value, if a particular bearer is the Type I bearer.

18. The network node of claim 16 , wherein the one or more processors is further configured to monitor the one or more bearers for type-specific anomalies by,
comparing an average RLC buffer size of the particular bearer against a first threshold value, if a particular bearer is the Type II bearer.

19. The network node of claim 16 , wherein the one or more processors is further configured to monitor the one or more bearers for type-specific anomalies by,
comparing an average PRB utilization to a third threshold value, if a particular bearer is one of the Type I bearer and the Type II bearer.

20. The network node of claim 12 , wherein the anomaly data includes at least one of a channel condition, an average number of assigned physical resource blocks (PRBs), a severity of an anomaly expressed as a value, a value of a configured parameter, and a total number of bearers served by a cell.

Assignees

• Grinshpun Edward
• Liao Qi
• Faucher David
• Sayeed Zulfiquar
• Sharma Sameer
• Alcatel Lucent
• Alcatel Lucent Usa Inc

Inventors

• Grinshpun Edward
• Liao Qi
• Faucher David
• Sayeed Zulfiquar
• Sharma Sameer

Classifications

• H04W28/0284

  detecting congestion or overload during communication (monitoring arrangements H04L43/00) · CPC title

• H04W28/0252

  per individual bearer or channel (dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12) · CPC title

• H04W28/02

  Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control · CPC title

• H04L47/24

  Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS · CPC title

• H04W28/0231

  based on communication conditions (dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition based on channel quality criteria H04W72/54) · CPC title